by KJ Dahlen
She slowly raised her head after the bullet was out while Alexi was cleaning the wound again. She hissed when he dumped more vodka over her shoulder. Her eyes glazed over and she bit her bottom lip as the other man did his job.
When he began wrapping her shoulder, she glared at Barron. “I-I hate you. Get—your bike and get the hell out of here. You and yours are not welcome.”
He looked down at her and shook his head. “That’s too bad woman. We aren’t leaving here until we know more about why a man like Vitya is doing here and why he killed your father. We still need answers.”
“Too—fucking bad— because I. Don’t. Know. Why.” She whispered just as she passed out.
Kolya. Leonid and the others looked from the girl to their leader.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kolya asked.
Sasha stepped up closer. “Zvinite menya...I was on my way to the bar to let you know Vitya was here and looking for someone, when Koyla called me about your bike, Prez.” Baron looked over at him and asked, “Zachem? Why did he come all this way and what did her father have to do with him?”
“She told us that Vitya has been looking for him for twenty five years,” Leonid stated. “Could her father be the man who shot Ilya all those years ago?”
“But his name wasn’t Gene Daniels.” Barron shook his head. “That man’s name was Gennedi Denisov. His entire family was shot in Russia but no one knew what ever happened to Gennedi.”
“I heard he escaped the country but no one ever knew to where,” Leonid said.
“He must have made his way here and changed his name,” Kolya suggested. He looked over at his president. “Now, what are we going to do with her?”
Barron looked from her to his men. “We are going to protect her and keep her safe. Ashchitit' yeye. We’ve all lost something to Vitya. I’ll be damned if I’ll lose anymore to that Ublyudok. I won’t lose her, not to his murdering hands.”
“What’s so special about her?” Kolya asked.
“Ona nevinnaya... She is an innocent. She had no knowledge of what her father did or why. We all know the story of what happened that day twenty five years ago. We know his brother deserved what he got” He paused as he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. Looking back at the girl he said, “Hell, she wasn’t even born yet. He’s already taken away our freedom, our families and I’ll be damned, if I will let him take her like he took her father.”
A while later, Grace woke up lying in a bed. She was wearing a shirt again and her shoulder hurt but the pain was tolerable. The cabin was quiet and she didn’t know where her guests were but she couldn’t really care.
She was feeling almost too warm and she realized the heat was coming from behind her. She turned her head and saw a shape behind her that she couldn’t see clear enough but it reminded her of a man. She tried to move away but whoever it was behind her didn’t allow her to escape.
“Hush,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her as he hauled her back into his embrace.
Grace shivered at the sound of his voice. She wasn’t sure which one of the men it was but she thought it was the big guy everyone called their President. “What are you doing here?” she whispered. “I asked you to leave.”
He chuckled. “I’m not going anywhere without you. I’m not leaving you to the likes of Vitya Konovic.”
“But why would he follow me here?” She frowned. “He doesn’t even know I exist.”
“Believe me... he knows,” he said dryly.
Chapter Three
Grace stiffened at his words and turned her head to see him clearly in the dark. “Why would he care?”
“Twenty five years ago a man named Gennedi Denisov shot and killed Ilya Konovic. According to what the story was at the time, Ilya had raped and strangled a young fifteen year old girl and Gennedi found him still at the scene. It was his younger sister who Ilya killed. The young Gennedi shot and killed him, then fled the country. Two days later the rest of his family had been killed by the Konovic family in revenge for Ilya’s murder. Nothing else has been heard of Gennedi until today.”
She listened then shook her head. “I never really knew my father did I?”
“You couldn’t have known dorogoy. Your father kept his own secrets,” Barron assured her.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she whispered, “He would never talk about his family, other than to say he didn’t have any.”
Barron hesitated then asked, “What about your mother? What happened to her?”
Grace shrugged. “I don’t really know. It’s only been me and my dad since I was old enough to remember. My dad would never talk about her, except to say she didn’t want me.”
“And now Vitya won’t stop hunting you until he kills you.” Barron told her.
“But I had nothing to do with what happened twenty five years ago,” she protested.
“That will not matter to the bastard. The Konovic family thinks the laws of man don’t apply to them. They are ruthless and demand their own due.”
Grace looked at him for a moment then asked, “Is he after you and your men too?”
Barron shrugged. “Yeah, he’s looking for us too, but not for the same reasons.”
She studied him for a moment. She wanted to know the reasons but they were none of her business so she let it go. “So now what? Where do I go now?”
“You come back with us. We can and will protect you against Konovic.”
She was silent for a moment then asked, “Why? Why would you protect me? You don’t even know me.”
“Vitya Konovic owes us all,” he snarled savagely. “He ran us out of our homeland, making it impossible for us to stay where we were born. His family thinks they run that part of Russia, but they don’t.”
“If he’s coming after me, then why would you offer me protection?”
“Because it’s long past time we stood up to him. I’m tired of living like a refugee.”
“How did he run you guys out of Russia?” she asked.
“He knew we would stand our ground and made life very difficult. He would tax the people he ruled and when we protested, he would throw us in prison for not paying. He started with my father and when he couldn’t pay, he came looking for me. I went to prison and found my father. He was almost dead from the beatings he’d received. He had been starved and beaten and he eventually died from everything Vitya had done to him. When I was let out, I had nowhere to go no home either for Vitya had declared it his. The Konovic family took my father’s farm and I was left with nothing. There were others in the same boat as I was and we banded together and came here.”
“And now you run an MC,” she stated.
Barron nodded. “And now we all belong to an MC. We’ve gathered more brothers in the last fifteen years but we all have the same thing in common. Vitya Konovic and his fucking twisted sense of justice.”
“And now you want your own justice,” she whispered in the dark.
“Da we want our own justice.” Barron growled. “We have had enough of men like him. We are done running. He has come here and is dong the very same thing he did in my country. I won’t have it here. We have our freedom, our own place. He will regret coming.”
After a long moment, she moved away from him and he let her go but not too far. “And me? Where do I fit into your scenario? Am I just collateral damage?”
Barron winced at her description. However accurate it was that’s all she was at this point. Collateral Damage. “Da, sadly yes, that’s what you are at this point but truthfully, it’s something we won’t give him. We are stronger now and in a position to take back what we lost all those years ago.”
Grace was angry and tried to move further away but Barron wouldn’t allow her to. “Sorry to tell you this but I’m not going to be any one’s collateral damage.”
Barron sighed. “I am sorry and I hate to tell you this but Vitya set fire to your dad’s garage. There is nothing left of it.”
She gasped
in shock and felt the pain of loss wash over her. Everything her dad worked for was gone. “It’s—it’s all gone?” she whispered.
“Yes. This is what he does. He destroys. Iskazhennoye pravosudiye.” Grace simply crashed in defeat and curled up into a ball. He tried to pull her back into his arms but she fought him all the way. “Leave me be!” she cried out as she struggled against his hold.“Nyet, I won’t leave you be, moya devushka,” he spoke with more of an accent than before.
“Why? I mean nothing to you.”
“True, I may not know who you are but I’ll be damned if I leave you to his mercy. He doesn’t have any and he has killed his last person. I refuse to let him kill another.” He released her from his hold. “Come on, we have to go. We have to get back to the compound before dawn if we don’t want him to see you or us.”
“How would he even know who I was or what I looked like?” she argued.
“I’m sure your father had pictures of you in his garage, did he not?”
She took a moment and thought about it. “He did.”
“Then Vitya is already hunting you.” He leaned over, turned on a lamp and began putting his clothes on.
She looked down at the t-shirt she was wearing. “How did I get this?”
“Well, you needed covering and I had an extra shirt in my saddlebags.”
“You dressed me?”
“It had to be me or one of my men and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let any of my men do it.”
She huffed out disgusted breath. “So now what?”
“Now, we get you undercover and figure this out.”
“And if you come up with nothing? Then what?”
“I don’t know yet, do I, malyshka?” He smiled.
“My name is Grace,” she grumbled. “I am not nor will I ever be your Malyshkay, whatever it is.”
Barron shook his head but didn’t say a word instead he finished putting his boots on then got up and pulled her to her feet. “Come on we have to get back to the compound before the sun rises. We can’t afford being seen before we know what’s going on.”
“Then go, I’m not stopping you,” she grumbled.
“I’m not leaving you behind. I’m not leaving you to his mercy, I have told you this.”
She looked up and saw his face. “He’s already taken everything I cared about. There is nothing left for me out there.”
“Oh, there’s always something more right around the corner, if you want it bad enough.” Then his mouth covered hers.
Grace felt shocked, even a little scared and pulled away from him but Barron just closed the distance again. This time, she seemed to melt into him and he couldn’t let her go. Instead, his mouth widened and she accepted the kiss as their tongues entangled searching for a release.
Neither of them could break it and finally Barron pulled away when he could no longer breathe. His eyes widened as he stared at her face.
Both wore a look of shock as they drew in the necessary breath.
Then he leaned closer to her again but instead of connecting, her hand was putting him at a distance. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she whispered weakly.
“I’m getting to know you.” He smiled.
“Not so fast there buddy. This is going way too fast. I didn’t even know you a couple of hours ago.”
He shrugged. “And I didn’t know you either but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving you behind.” He reached over and slapped her butt. “Let’s roll, we have an hour’s ride before we can get you under cover.”
Grace jumped a bit at the smack. “You can’t do that!”
He just laughed. “I just did. It did not hurt, so stop being so childish.”
Grumbling, she searched for a pair of jeans and shoes. Her shoulder was on fire but nothing she couldn’t handle. When they walked into the living room area, she saw the other bikers. They were resting but it didn’t take much to wake them up and get everyone moving. After she shut up the cabin again and turned off the generator, she joined them outside.
Moving over to where Barron was standing, he shook his head when he saw the condition of his bike with the wiring harness all pulled apart, he turned and glared at her.
Grace shrugged and told him, “I can fix that, don’t worry. I didn’t really hurt it any.”
“You never touch another man’s ride,” he grumbled.
She shrugged and began walking over to the truck until he grabbed her by good arm and pulled her back to him. “You’re riding with me.”
She started to shake her head but at his growl, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she glared at him as she slung her leg over the bike. When he joined her, she waited while he griped about the mess she made of his wiring and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
Starting up his bike, he slowly rode to where the others had left their bikes.
The whole group started their cycles and then slowly they all drove off. Everyone rode side by side with one of them, the one they called Anton, followed in his truck. Soon, they were crossing over the Red Wing Bridge. The closer they got the more nervous she got. She could feel the danger and she couldn’t help it.
As soon as they got over the bridge and back into Minnesota, Barron turned and took the back way into the compound. They had to be careful not to be seen and it wasn’t until they stopped that she looked around her.
The compound was imposing. As she hadn’t been looking on her way in, she could see they were tucked into the hillside. Looking around, she could see the building they called a compound. It was a two story building topped off by a tower high into the air. The tower she bet one could see the wide open up the road coming and going from all directions. The woods around the area were cut back some distance so they could see well and thoroughly who was near. She saw the fence line and the gate that was chained and she figured it was kept locked all the time.
As they pulled up, men poured out of the clubhouse and before they could say anything, the men began telling Barron what was happening there.
“Red, that fucker is here,” one of his men told him. “He shot a man and set fire to his garage.”
“I know.” Barron sighed. He looked at his men and motioned at Grace. “This is the man’s daughter, Grace. She barely escaped with her life and now Konovic is hunting for her.”
“Did you know he’s already got a bounty out on her?” Sedki asked.
Barron swung his gaze over to stare at him. “What the fuck did you say?”
“Konovic has a bounty out on her.” Sedki nodded.
“Already? Her father is barely cold.”
Sedki shrugged. “When only one man came back, they found the second man dead. They talked to everyone about what they saw but no one didn’t tell them shit. Then Konovic sat in his limo for about ten minutes outside the bar, then pulled away, some say it was then when he was putting the word out. He was angry as shit probably... to find the girl and put a price out for her.”
“What’s the bounty?” Barron wanted to know.
“A hundred thousand, Red,” Tesha told him. “But he wants her alive.”
Barron slowly turned to stare at her. “What the hell did you do that he put that much money on your head so fast?”
“I have no idea.” She began to shake. “I swear I don’t know this guy. And until he arrived and killed my father, I had no idea my father knew him.”
“We should get you inside in case he’s watching.” Barron urged.
Grace got off the bike and went into his arms. “Why would he want me so bad?” she asked to no one in particular. “I’ve never even heard of this man before today.”
Barron shrugged and looked around at the faces of his men. They were just as surprised as she was. “You weren’t even born when your father fled from Russia.”
She began shaking in his arms. “Please don’t let him take me. If he gets close enough shoot me, just shoot me, end it quickly.” She snuggled to get closer to him. “Don’t let him take me. I don’t want wha
tever he’s got in store for me.”
“He won’t get close to you,” Barron vowed as he hugged her closer.
“Let all of us get inside,” Leonid suggested. “The woods might have eyes, Red and we don’t need that.”
As they went inside Barron nodded at Anton.
He took off down the hall to his computer and began searching for information on Grace as well as checking the grounds around the compound.
Barron knew there had to be a reason for Konovic’s interest in the girl, besides revenge on her father and he wanted to know what that interest might be.
The sun was just making an appearance when they closed and locked the front door behind them. They missed seeing the man standing just inside the tree line. He’d been standing there for a while now, he and two others. They hadn’t been close enough hear what was discussed by the bikers.
He turned to one of the men. “Is that who you saw running away from the garage?” Vitya asked the other man.
“Da, I think so. I never saw her really clear but those are the men who took a shot at me after Boya went down under their bullets.”
Vitya growled as he chewed the end of his cigar between his teeth. She had the same color of hair as Irena but from this distance, he couldn’t really tell.
His anger took over when he confronted Gennedi and he did not think to ask before he shot the man. It wasn’t until later he’d killed him when he realized he’d let his rage divert him from finding what he needed to know and by then it was too late to ask Gennedi. The other man was dead and there was no bringing him back for answers now.
Vitya had found several pictures of the man and his daughter. He took them. Then he had one of his men set the building on fire, he returned to his Limo and watched waiting for his man to finish, Vitya was very upset that only one of his men returned from the chase for the girl.
Maybe his people could get the answers he sought, but then again maybe he would never know for sure. Did it really matter anymore anyway? All this took place twenty five years ago.
Vitya looked over at the two men he brought with him. “Find her and bring her to me, but she must be alive. Find out who these men are too. Did they know her? Why is she here with them? There’d better not be more left of the Denisov family. They all must die. See who is protecting her here. I have to talk to her and find out where my sister is.”